


Case 211: The Adventure Of The Cowardly Lion (1903)

by Cerdic519



Series: Elementary 221B [271]
Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Supernatural, The Wizard of Oz & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Edwardian, Assassins & Hitmen, Chases, Destiel - Freeform, F/M, Heroism, Illusions, Johnlock - Freeform, London, M/M, Married Life, Mental Health Issues, Organized Crime, Suicide Attempt, Untold Cases of Sherlock Holmes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-14 21:38:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18060629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerdic519/pseuds/Cerdic519
Summary: ֍ A young man's life seems set fair – but his concerns about his brother prove to be all too accurate. Fortunately they have friends called Sherlock and John.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Centaurlips](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Centaurlips/gifts).



> TW: Mention of failed suicide attempt.

_[Narration by Mr. Hereward Buckingham, Esquire]_

Lion should have hated me.

He really should have. I know that I was the blood Buckingham and he was adopted, but Father had always made it clear that he treated us as equals even if I was the one who was supposed to have inherited the family business one day. However my marriage last year to Sarah and the fact that she will inherit a fair-sized chunk of Morayshire one day meant that it had been agreed he would be the one who....

Doctor Watson is right; I do babble. I had better start at the beginning.

֍

Some people believe that they have a guardian angel watching over them. I am not that religious (although I would never say as much to Mother) but if that is true then our family's guardian angel is in the human form of the aptly-named Mr. Sherlock Castiel Holmes, who had assisted our family on more than one occasion. The last two times were when Father sought his help to try (alas, unsuccessfully) to prevent Lion's father from murdering his mother, although he was able to secure justice there in the end, and more recently when some harridan at a school across from where we both studied had levelled false accusations against me. In both cases Mr. Holmes had ridden to the rescue and settled matters as much as they could be settled, and I know how truly grateful Father was even if he did mutter about Mother simpering at the fellow (which despite what she claimed she did indeed do, and twice!).

The first of these two matters had occurred some eight years back and had left poor Lion an orphan. Fortunately I had been able to persuade Father to adopt him as I had always wished for a brother (I had long known such a thing was all but impossible because my own birth had been so hard for poor Mother). That process went through without a hitch – I was sure that Mr. Holmes helped there too - and I obtained for a sibling someone kind, generous and giving who made those with less tolerable or even downright annoying brothers and sisters justifiably jealous. We had grown to be men in peace and harmony, but over the past year a cloud had come over our lives, or at least his.

I have never been good with people and I was fortunate that dear Sarah made up for my failings in that area. She pointed out that although I thought myself and Lion equal in almost every way, to outsiders I was very much the superior brother and he the whelp. I was the one who had married a rich and beautiful lady (if not a modest one, I thought but did not say for obvious reasons!) and was now possessed of a healthy baby boy named after my father. I was also tall, blond and muscular while my adoptive brother was of average height, dark-haired and while not exactly ugly was plain and, several people had told her, worth considering as a husband only because of his future inheritance. I was saddened and shocked at such an attitude but when I asked around I found her to be right as always. 

For some reason I never quite got round to telling her that, either. Memory like a sieve.

The thing about Lion which I _had_ noticed of late was that he had become increasingly highly-strung. He had always been a nervous young fellow but lately it had gotten worse, and he had strongly resisted Father's attempts to train him in handling a gun. Not that England was the sort of place where every gentleman _needed_ a firearm but I did notice that when we went round a farm one time and there was some shooting from a nearby wood, he was a bag of nerves.

֍

Looking back my first thought when it happened was that I had abjectly failed as a brother. Whatever anyone said, I should have seen the warning signs. Thank the Lord that things turned out the way they did or I doubt I could have lived with myself over such dreadful behaviour.

Lion and I occasionally saw Mr. Holmes and Doctor Watson but I doubt very much that either of them had spotted anything amiss. Father had accompanied us the last time only a few days ago and Mr. Holmes had mentioned that they were about to head off to East Suffolk for a case there. I had supposed that they might be away some time so I was most surprised when they called in at my home in Chipping Ongar, especially as the route back from where they had gone would have been quite difficult involving as it did a long carriage-ride from Chelmsford. I thought initially that they might be here to see young Henry but the worried looks on both their faces quickly made me think otherwise.

“Where is your brother?” Mr. Holmes asked urgently. 

“At home with Mother and Father, I think”, I said. “Why? Is something the matter?”

The two looked at each other. I did not like their expressions one little bit.

“This is important so explanations must wait for later”, Mr. Holmes said. “We have reason to believe that Lion is so depressed that he may be considering taking his own life.”

I gasped in horror. My initial reaction was of course to ask how they knew but if they were right then every moment counted. Explanations would have to wait.

“Lion and my parents live in Epping, about ten miles away”, I said. “I do not know the times of the trains but they do live close to the station.”

“Do you have a carriage?” Mr. Holmes asked.

“Yes.”

“Then we will take the doctor to the station here and he will get there by train while we take the carriage”, he said firmly. “Hopefully one or the other of us will reach him in time!”

֍

Fortunately the station in Ongar lay between my house and Epping, so we were indeed able to drop the doctor off there before racing on ahead. I doubt my poor old Boxer has ever been driven quite so fast in his life but Mr. Holmes managed to coax great speed out of the beast without using the whip and we were at my parents' house in surprisingly short order. I suppose that I could have asked him just how he knew what he knew, but somehow the time did not seem right. As we approached the town there was no sign of the doctor – I had not expected there to be as I had seen the smoke from the approaching train as we had turned for the house – and we hurried in at the gateway.

For a brief moment my heart sang. There, picking early Bramleys off one of the trees in the grounds was Lion looking totally unharmed and.....

And looking guilty. With a coil of rope on the ground next to him!

֍

I deserved every hurt, every ache and every pain as I watched my wretched brother admit how worthless he had been feeling of late. I had been responsible for bringing him into my family and I had abandoned him. I was such a heel!

“Your brother is a grown man”, Mr. Holmes said quietly as the three of us sat together later. Father and Mother were, it turned out, away for the whole day so the whole sordid business could be broken to them gently when they returned, while the doctor had given poor Lion a sedative. I rarely drank but accepted a large whisky which I downed in one go. And I was still shaking after that.

“I should have seen something”, I said bitterly. “He was my brother, damnation!”

“Introverts like him are good at concealing their true feelings”, Doctor Watson said. “I have treated some in my time, and like a volcano one never knows when the eruption is going to happen. Your parents are good people but they cannot have known or they would certainly have done something.”

“What is to be done now?” I fretted. “Poor Mother, this will be dreadful for her.”

“Your brother needs time to heal”, Mr. Holmes said. “I believe that there is a sanatorium close to where you live?”

“Yes there is”, I said. “But you know how those places work. They cannot tie him down and keep him there, let alone watch him around the clock.”

“We need about a week”, Mr. Holmes said thoughtfully. “Is there any familial event coming up any time soon?”

“Mother's birthday is the week after next”, I said. “Why do you ask?”

“You must visit Lion when he is there and tell him Father is planning a surprise party for her on that day”, Mr. Holmes said. “Something soppy and romantic because he knows how much she likes that sort of thing, even if he would no doubt consider it a threat to his manliness.”

For some reason he looked pointedly at Doctor Watson as he said that, and his friend blushed deeply.

“Lion will not want to mar such an event”, Mr. Holmes said, “and before it happens he is going to have a rather interesting little adventure of his own. And I will need your help.....”

֍

Thankfully Father and Mother arrived back before Lion had come round so were we able to explain matters to them. They were of course devastated but agreed that some time away would be beneficial for the poor fellow. And Mr. Holmes outlined his scheme to me in more detail. I was I will admit a little dubious, albeit more over my own abilities than in his. I had of course to explain everything to dear Sarah when I got back and although I feared that she might fret she was fully supportive of the whole idea.

“Of course you must do it, dear”, she said firmly. “He is your brother after all. And you have always enjoyed being a bit of a drama queen.”

I frowned.

“I am _not_ a drama queen!” I said firmly.

“Really?” she smiled. “Then who was it that I saw was standing in front of their bathroom mirror reciting lines from _Macbeth_ the other day?”

Suddenly I could see why my some men preferred the single life! Harrumph!

֍

I visited poor Lion in the sanatorium every day for the next week, despite his protests. At first he did not want to eat but Mother persuaded him out of that and by the end of his first week be looked a little better unless that was just my wishful thinking. Or more likely my guilty conscience; I had slept little myself. I discussed various trivial news items with him during my time there and made sure to mention that Mr. Holmes was having problems with a major crime syndicate although I did not know any details.

Finally we reached the particular day for which Mr. Holmes had our little adventure planned. I had told Lion the day before that I would be able to spend longer with him today as Sarah's parents were visiting and, while I did not so much dislike them, the chance to miss her mother's braying laugh which sounded like a group of donkeys undergoing a mass castration was too good to pass up (I knew that I would be buying my wife a large box of apology chocolates before I went home that evening but it was so worth it!). 

I had barely sat down before he began.

“Herry, something terrible is about to happen!” he said urgently.

“What could possibly happen in here?” I yawned. “We are safe from the whole world.”

“But it may not be safe from us!” he said. “Do you know Nurse Almira Weston?”

I shuddered. The raven-haired nurse at the place had the sort of face that suggested she enjoyed making everyone's life as miserable as possible; fortunately the men and women had separate wings and she was on the women's ward.

“Have you trespassed on her fiefdom for some reason?” I asked. “Why?”

“I have not”, he said huffily, “but I was reading in the library yesterday when she came in. I was in one of those nooks so she did not see me. She had three very rough-looking men with her, and they were talking.”

“Talking in the library”, I nodded. “Tut tut. Ten years for that, at least!”

He scowled at me.

“Be serious for a minute!” he snapped. “They were talking about what they called 'offing someone'. And the man they said was our Mr. Holmes.”

I frowned.

“But why would a nurse in an Essex sanatorium want to..... 'off' our friend?” I asked.

“One of the men asked that and she said that he had put away her brother”, Lion said, twisting his hands around each other (he always did that when he was anxious). “Herry, what can we _do?”_

I thought for a moment.

“Did she say anything about a time or date?” I asked.

“She said sunset on the next Full Moon because that was when her brother was hanged”, he said. “When is that? Last night was cloudy so I could not see.”

There was a calendar on the opposite wall from his bed. I crossed to look at it, then gulped.

“Tonight!” I said glancing at my watch. “Oh Lord!”

“We must send Mr. Holmes a telegram at once”, he urged. I shook my head.

“They will have thought of that”, I said. “I remember reading one of Doctor Watson's stories where someone had people in place to stop telegrams reaching their quarry. No, we shall have to go in person.”

“We?” he asked incredulously. “I am going nowhere.”

“We need numbers in case someone tries to stop us”, I said. “One of us must get through. I can say that I am checking you out and taking responsibility for a day out in Chelmsford; they cannot object to that. Then we can go to the station and catch a train to Baker Street, although we will have to change somewhere. We should just make it before sunset!”

֍


	2. Chapter 2

Checking Lion out of the place was not a problem but I noticed a sharp-faced woman watching us as we completed the inevitable paperwork at the reception desk. I covertly nudged my brother.

“Try not to make it obvious”, I whispered as I waited for the last form to sign, “but we are being watched.”

He gulped and visibly shook. We left unhurriedly but as the cab began to drive away the same woman came out to watch us go.

“We have got away from her”, Lion sighed in relief.

“We may have got away from _her_ ”, I agreed, “but she is sure to have people she can communicate with by telegram. We need to get a move on.”

֍

We only had to wait a short time for a train at Ongar Station and Lion was visibly nervous the whole time. I could relate and as the train chuffed its way towards the capital its slow progress did nothing to ease his worries. At Epping we were fortunate enough for our compartment to come to a halt opposite a newspaper stand so I stepped out and purchased one. We had only just got underway again when I reached an article that made me gasp.

“What is it?” Lion asked at once.

“Listen to this”, I said. “The Metropolitan Police Service are under attack today after it was revealed that three dangerous criminals escaped from gaol in the capital last week yet the general public was not notified. The three are believed to be all part of the notorious Kansas Street Gang, whose shady leader is said to be one Elmer West.”

I looked pointedly at him. He just looked confused.

“Elmer West”, I said. _“Almira Weston?_ Why cannot a woman lead a crime syndicate these days?”

“What does it say about the three men?” he asked anxiously.

“Mr. Gino Scirocco known as 'The Scarecrow', famed for using a tramp-disguise to get close to his victims. Mr. Antonio Hartless known as 'The Tin Man', because he always wears grey and kills without mercy. And Mr. Whiston Austin known as 'The Wizard' – because he is so efficient at making dead bodies disappear!”

“Oh Lord!” he groaned. “What have we gone and blundered into?”

“A chance to save the life of the gentleman who avenged your poor mother”, I said. “I only wish that I could use my gun or that you had taken those lessons.”

“Why can you not use your gun?” he asked.

“I sprained my shoulder last weekend”, I said. “Embarrassingly it was because I picked up little Henry the wrong way; Sarah is still laughing at me for being so clumsy. I have the gun but it is useless.”

He shuddered and clearly steeled himself.

“Give it to me”, he said bravely. “If we have to then.... I suppose I have to.”

I looked at him admiringly and handed it over.

֍

I managed to give Lion some quick lessons in handling the gun over the next few stops. We had reached Stratford before we encountered any trouble. I looked out of the window once the train had come to a stop and quickly pulled back in.

“Damnation!” I hissed.

“What is it?” he asked anxiously.

“A tall scruffy fellow is walking down from the front of the train and looking into each compartment”, I said. 

He looked at me in confusion.

“He looks a bit of a scarecrow?” I ventured.

“Oh no!”

“He is some distance away and we can hide in the corridor”, I said. “But he will likely join the back coach and then walk through; he must know that this is our train. Quick!”

I led the way out into the corridor and we hurried towards the rear end of the coach where there was a lavatory and hence no window outside. But it was only a three-coach train and the fellow would soon be just yards away from us.

“Can we not block the door?” Lion asked.

“Of course!” I exclaimed. “Mr. Holmes coin trick he explained to me!”

Lion looked confused but I quickly found a ha'penny in my pocket and jammed it into the door-handle mechanism. No-one could gain access from the next coach now, but that still left our pursuer the option of simply waiting until the next station and stepping out onto the platform to avoid our obstruction.

“The next station is Mile End”, I mused. “That is a stroke of luck.”

“Why?” Lion asked.

“Because he will be expecting us to change to the Metropolitan at Liverpool Street where the connection is slightly superior”, I said, “so he will use the next station to just change carriages and get round our obstacle. But we can change there as well. We shall have to wait until the train is about to leave and make a run for it. Let us go to the front of the train to be on the safe side.”

He looked worried but nodded. The train was already slowing for Mile End and we walked quickly to the very front of the train to put as much distance between us and our pursuer as possible. It seemed like an eternity as we waited for the guard's whistle but finally it came and we all but tumbled out of the coach, earning ourselves an angry yell from a porter. Luckily the footbridge was nearby and we were already on the stairs as the train pulled out.

“I saw someone try to open a door but the train was going too fast”, Lion panted. “Have we lost him?”

“Yes but at a price”, I said. “Now that he knows we were there he will likely do two things. He will alert Nurse Weston and he will try to intercept us himself, almost certainly at Liverpool Street. Which we is certain to reach before us.”

“But can we not take the District to Mark Lane and then double back?” Lion asked looking at a map set halfway up the footbridge. “That does not look to be much further and the underground platforms are on different levels.”

“You are right”, I said. “That is our only option; from the Tower to Baker Street across the whole of London by road would take ages. Once he misses us on the next Central line train he will think that we done that. But I fear that we are not out of the woods yet.”

I was to be proven all too right. But then I knew that already.

֍

We doubled back on Mark Lane as Lion had suggested and were soon heading towards Baker Street, both of us counting down the number of stops to go. We reached Euston Square when I saw Lion smile for possibly the first time that day.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Some poor fellow with less taste than me has just got on”, he grinned. “Normal clothes but all grey.”

I stared at him in horror.

“What?” he asked.

“All grey”, I said slowly. “Grey as in tin?”

His face was suddenly ashen.

“What can we do?” he asked.

“More importantly, what can he _not_ do?” I said. “The train is so packed that I do not think he can risk anything until Baker Street where quite a few people will alight. Did he get into our carriage or another one?”

“The next one down. Why?”

“Because the doors between carriages on this line are always kept locked”, I said. “We shall have to make a run for it at the next stop, Great Portland Street. Thankfully that is just the other side of Regent's Park – I remember taking a walk there once – so it is not far.”

“If we make it!” Lion fretted.

֍

We fairly bolted out of the train at Great Portland Street and were out onto the street in barely a minute. Our pursuer would be delayed by having to fight his way through the crowds so we had to make our lead tell. I almost shoved Lion into a cab and yelled the address at the driver, who set off at a fast trot.

“Can this thing not go any faster?” Lion fretted. “Are we being pursued?”

“We are on the Marylebone Road”, I said, “one of the busiest roads in London. If we were not being followed by another cab _then_ something would be wrong. Check the gun and be ready. It is not far now.”

Poor Lion nearly fell out when the driver executed a sharp right into Baker Street and just moments later we were outside the Georgian facade of 221B. I had used the time to get the fellow's money ready – a large tip but he deserved it – and all but threw it at him as we tumbled up the stairs to where thankfully the front door was open as a maid was cleaning around the door. The landlady Mrs. Lindberg whom I recognized was there and looked more than a little surprise at our hasty entrance.

“May I be helping you gentlemen?” she asked politely.

“We desperately need to speak with Mr. Holmes and Doctor Watson”, I said. “I only hope we are in time.”

“You may have to wait”, she advised us. “I have just sent up another visitor, a Mr. Smith.”

I looked at Lion in horror.

“We are too late!” I cried.

“Not if we catch him up!” he said. “Come!”

He leaped towards the stairs and I rushed after him. We both tried not to make too much noise and fortunately someone in one of the rooms was playing one of those new phonographs with the door open. We came within sight of the door to Room Five – and there was a large gentleman outside holding a gun!

Then the door opened and Doctor Watson appeared. He looked at the fellow in shock.

“No!” I yelled.

The fellow at the door was momentarily confused at having two targets, but he turned and levelled his gun at me. Lion, bless the fellow, did not hesitate but fired straight at him. The door slammed in front of 'Mr. Smith' but from the slowly enlarging red patch on his white shirt there had been no need. He was no more.

“You did it!” I said in amazement. “Lion, you saved me!”

I took the gun from him and he smiled at me strangely. 

And then he fainted.

֍

“That has to be one of the most elaborate set-ups in the history of set-ups”, I said later as I sat with Mr. Holmes and Doctor Watson. “It is even in the _'Times'_ as to how the brave English Lion saved his brother's life.”

“The journalists there owed me a favour”, Mr. Holmes said dryly. “That and inventing this mysterious gang of killers out to murder me more than pays their debt, I would say.”

“And the only casualty was the carpet outside, victim of rather too much fake blood”, Doctor Watson grinned. “We shall be owing Mrs. Lindberg a box of apology chocolates for that.”

“And cakes for Miss Bradbury for the hire of several of her most menacing and terrifying trained killers”, Mr. Holmes smiled. “Your brother now feels truly valued, Mr. Buckingham, and we must endeavour to keep it that way.”

And for the rest of my life I did just that.

֍


End file.
